Up, Around, or Across?
The thing just looks like a large rectangle at first, but you can see more details as you get closer: mortared stone, narrow windows, a single arched door... It's a tower. What a single tower is doing out here, you don't know - it doesn't seem to be connected to anything else. It's impossible to tell how tall it is. You can see two layers of windows from where you are, but everything above that is lost in the mist. The doorway is a dark hole with no door in it. When you stick your head inside, cautiously, you can see faint grayish sunlight coming from above; the top is open to the cloudy sky. Nothing breaks the circle of light but a few rotting boards. If there's anything at the top - wherever the top is - you can't see it from here. The splintered ends of a spiral staircase protrude from the wall, but even your jumping abilities might not be enough to cross the gaps between the steps. No one has used this place in a long time.
You step back outside, take a few steps to the right, and nearly fall off a cliff.
The ground ends about a foot away from the tower. Fog swirls below your feet as you lean gingerly over the edge. It's impossible to see how high you are, so you look around for a nearby pebble and kick it over the cliff. It's about two seconds before you hear a splash.
There's water down there, then... or some other sort of liquid. You contemplate jumping in to see, but there's no telling if you'd be able to get out again.
As it turns out, you don't have to. A few hops farther along the edge, you find a wooden drawbridge stretching away into the mist. You can't see the other end. The chains supporting the bridge are old and rusted, covered with moss, but the bridge itself looks surprisingly new. The boards seem almost freshly cut. When you look closely, you notice that the end of the bridge rests on top of the thin grass that covers the ground. The tower may be abandoned, but someone has lowered the drawbridge recently.
Written by Chrysalis on 10 August 2010
The end (for now)